For Faith. For Justice.

We all have blind spots. Churches know this because they help people see the blind spots in their lives week in and week out.

Whether they are providing insight into how to better love and respect spouses, sharing biblical best practices for raising children, or sharing counsel for how to deal with a recurring sin – church leaders are often called to reveal and help Christians reconcile issues in their lives through the power of the Gospel.

But the Church can have blind spots, too. And these sorts of unknown blind spots are sometimes legal in nature.

A pastor friend discussing churches recently told me that “most people don’t know what they don’t know about the law.” They may even be overconfident.

When it comes to how the law affects religious freedom, this blind spot can be particularly troublesome. Some of the things that churches do – or don’t do – might put their ministry and their religious liberty at risk.

Maybe they don’t have a clearly defined statement of faith that includes the cultural issues pressing most urgently on the Church. Or perhaps they don’t implement a good facilities use policy. With all that is going on, they might fill ministerial jobs without using proper position descriptions. The list goes on.

What many churches are doing is operating under the assumption that there is nothing to worry about, from a legal perspective, relating to the day-to-day operations.

Whether we like to admit it or not, there are people and organized groups that are actively looking to put limits on religious freedom and barriers around the Gospel.

We know this because God’s Word tells us that the world hates us. But we also know because, at ADF, we have around 50 current legal matters open for churches as I write.

So here’s the main issue:

Churches have blind spots.

People are actively looking to capitalize on those blind spots.

In light of this reality, Alliance Defending Freedom has created the Church Alliance to equip and empower churches to be shrewd in the midst of this changing culture.

By conducting a religious liberty audit, and consulting with church leadership when issues and major decisions arise, Church Alliance attorneys are helping to keep churches out of unnecessary legal troubles thus enabling them to focus on the ministry God has called them to. But the Church Alliance is also going a step further by providing free legal representation to its members if ever a legal matter relating to religious liberty does arise. Because when it comes to the Church, we are all in this together.

A Church Alliance member recently sent us an encouraging message:

“I feel I have a new friend who is an experienced lawyer. And his entire legal team stands ready and waiting to help our church and me whenever the need arises. I would encourage every church become a member of Church Alliance and gain a friend in the legal arena.”

Is your church a member of the alliance?

Share this article with a member of your church’s leadership team, so they can know more about how to prepare and protect your church from so many of the legal blind spots affecting the Church today.